Semester pressures are affecting my brain. It was more like 35 years ago — 1978 — not the 45 I said in the comments, and the bus my sister and I rode went up Hwy 99 (near as I can figure) and was not the 99 B-Line bus. Of course, the B-Line network of frequent buses didn’t exist back then, either.

I think there is something in the water in that whole area — Portland, Seattle, Vancouver — or maybe it’s the damp air? Moss in their brains? Anyway, I like the way they think even if the climate isn’t quite to my liking. Vancouver decided against freeways right into the heart of the city and things like SkyTrain (their automated rapid transit lines) and B-Line buses are the result. Lots of transit, all the time.

The B-Lines are billed in some sources as BRT, but are more like the Metro Rapids in LA or the SBS lines in NYC – no separate right of way, hence, not truly rapid transit, but limited stops and short head-ways. Proof-of-payment fare collection allows all-door boarding to shorten dwell time at stations. Whatever you call them, they are successful. Apparently TransLink uses them as pre-cursors to SkyTrain extensions – the 99 used to run further east but now ends at the SkyTrain line that replaced it.

Look, too, at this chart on TransLink’s site. It shows their most and least successful routes. Note that, with very few exceptions, the most successful routes are straight and the least successful are convoluted. If you go into transit planning, keep that in mind. Somewhere along the line, Jarrett Walker of Human Transit has blogged about this very subject, so it’s not exactly a revelation. Nonetheless, it’s an important factor in network design.

Much good news here, but I think APTA buries the lede. “Most since 1957” sounds good until you adjust for population growth – many more rides per capita than now. And no, I was not riding transit that year.

To me, the bigger deal is that since 1995 transit ridership is up 37.2% while population is only up 20.3%. That means the number of trips per capita is rising and that’s a good thing. Transit is even outpacing VMT which grew at 22.7% over the same period.

One thing thing that bugs me is the emphasis on mode. Except for the fact that commuter trains generally serve suburbs and heavy rail usually serves large cities, mode doesn’t tell you a lot.

(Also remember that these are “unlinked trips” – if a passenger’s journey to work requires her to take a bus to the subway, that’s two trips.)

Many years ago, before many of you were born, I lived in the Boston metropolitan statistical area. I still have something of a fondness for the area and am, as you probably imagine, intrigued by their transit system.

I’ll post something about that later, but today’s NARP Hotline had a blurb about proposed state transit funding that included the MBTA’s Silver Line, an interesting if weird transit line in Boston.

What caught my eye is that they are planning to extend it past its current northern terminal at Logan Airport into Chelsea, part of an area I worked in for a while and where I still have some friends. Anyway, here are some links, including a map.